Point of View

Patricia Highsmith tells her novel "Strangers on a Train" in the omniscient third-person narration. This is done to convey a solid story line despite having two diverse main characters and a rapidly evolving plot. Bruno and Guy speak in vastly different ways, and approach the world in vastly different ways. This affects their thoughts and their methods of speech, and rather than jumping back and forth between two alternating patterns of speech, the reader is blessed with a continual narrative voice that draws together both characters for the benefit of the reader.

Setting

The majority of the setting of the novel "Strangers on a Train" by Patricia Highsmith is that of Long Island, New York. Following World War II, Long Island was a model for modern suburban communities (such as Levittown), and the idea of "normalcy," which the working and middle classes aspired to. Thus it...